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Star Trek’s Pro-Life Planet

What’s that you say? This blog isn’t geeky enough for you? It needs moreStarTrek??

Well, if you insist…

This is an interesting exchange from an episode of the original series called The Mark of Gideon. I found it while I was browsing through Msgr. Charles Pope’s YouTube channel the other day.

Captain Kirk is talking to Hodin, the ambassador to the Federation from a planet that has become grossly overpopulated over time. When Kirk suggests contraception and sterilization as a solution to their problem, Hodin gives a beautiful defense of the sanctity of all human life — “from the fetus to the developed being.”

After finally watching the entire episode, I’m not sure the ambassador’s solution — allowing his daughter to sacrifice her own life in order to purposely reintroduce the planet to disease and early death — is much better than the Captain’s or any more respectful of the dignity of the human person. Nevertheless, it was a great little speech:

The people of Gideon have always believed that life is sacred, that the love of life is the greatest gift. That is the one unshakable truth of Gideon. This overwhelming love of life has developed our regenerative capacity and our great longevity…[W]e cannot deny the truth which shaped our evolution. We are incapable of destroying or interfering with the creation of that which we love so deeply — Life, in every form fetus to developed being. It is against our tradition. Against our very nature. We simply could not do it.

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One Comment on “Star Trek’s Pro-Life Planet”

Nice! Didn’t know about this. I find the first Star Trek sillier but with much more likeable characters and generally more agreeable than The Next Generation, which was pretty communist and where the most interesting character was a robot. 🙂
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